Almost alone in strange lands
by Bomberguy789
Summary: I fell into this world by accident, and have to endure some of the worst things it can throw at me. Besides, I have to survive. Someones got to take care of her, and since no-one else will, I guess that person's going to have to be me. SI
1. A hurtful way to start things off

**So, this is my second story, but don't check out my first, as I very quickly gave up on that idea. There most likely won't be any major characters until later on, and they will not have much to do with the main story line. There will NOT be ay romance whatsoever, and finally, this story is based on an OC of mine. I hope you enjoy, and don't forget to leave a review!**

It was in the afternoon, and I had been returning from a school football match when the first incident happened. I was wearing my football clothes (because I couldn't be bothered to change), which consisted of a red and white striped sports shirt, white sport shorts, blue trainers (I can't walk home in studs can I?), and white knee-length socks. I was carrying my black sports bag, which had my school clothes in them, along with my football studded shoes, and some casual clothing for the party I was going to go to after I got home and changed. The weather was mostly average, not very cold, but the wind was making me shiver, despite the rays of sunlight. The street was pretty normal too, for me anyway. A couple alleyways here and there behind the cafes and takeaway stores, but I was used to those. I knew everything about my home town, and could traverse it with my eyes closed. So I was kinda surprised to see the group of teenagers loitering in the alleyway behind the corner-shop. I had never seen them before, and they looked like they wanted to cause trouble, but I didn't really care. Not my problem. I don't mean that to come across as selfish, but I guess it was. I mean, they hadn't _actually_ caused any trouble, so who cares?

"Hey, kid. You mind helping us with something?" Well, I cared now. I looked back at them. The one who spoke to me was roughly 19 or something, and he was wearing a grey hoodie, along with some dark green jeans and white running trainers. He had the beginning of a moustache on his chiselled face, above which sat his emerald eyes, which seemed to look straight through me. So much so I turned to check if there was someone else. Unfortunately not, so I guess he looked at people like that all the time.

"What is it you need help with?" I didn't feel like sticking around. The others in this guy's group were all dressed similarly to him, with the only variation being the colour of their eyes and height. There were about 5 or 6 of them including the apparent leader, and some were sneering at me menacingly. Not the signs I wanted to see.

"Well, I seem to have left all my cash at home, and so did all my friends. You wouldn't mind lending us some, would you?" Yep, this was a mugging. Strange; I always thought that if I got mugged, I would be in the alleyway, not next to it. That doesn't change the fact that I was scared of what might happen to me if things got rough, especially because they wouldn't like my answer.

"If only there was some way to give you some. But alas, woe is me, for mine own breaches have been emptied of all things precious. Oh, woe is me indeed." I said, with a fake super posh accent. This wasn't a smart idea, but I like to make jokes, and my mind was working overtime to keep the potential fear at bay. Besides, everyone likes jokes, right?

"I don't really like your jokes," Crap. "And I especially don't like lies. So why don't you let my boys check to see if you're telling the truth? Lance, go rough him up." One of the taller boys started advancing towards me. His well-defined muscles could clearly be seen underneath his intentionally smaller hoodie, and he cracked his knuckles in his sausage like fingers. A snarl crept onto his face, and I could see the only languages he knew were either grunts, or punches. Shame I could only speak English and reason. I started to panic. What should I do? I couldn't reason with this guy, that much was clear, and I definitely wouldn't stand a chance if I tried to fight him. _Give him you're stuff_ said the reasonable voice in my head.

I ran. _Darn it_

I had surprised them and was a couple of meters away, so I had a head start. I ran past all of the people in the small shops or restaurants, and turned my head back to see the huge teenager gaining on me, while the other thugs were lagging behind. To be fair to them, I did come first in my year in the 100m and 200m. I turned my head forward to see that I was coming up to a junction in the road. There didn't seem to be any cars on it at the moment, but anyone who's ever heard of health and safety would know that running on the road is dangerous. A quick glance behind me told me that I didn't have a choice. I ran straight into the middle of the road. I checked my right and was thankful that there weren't any cars there. When I checked to my left, all I saw was the front of a Range Rover before my mind slowed down to micro-seconds to process everything happening. I could see just how the sun shined off of the silver bumper, how the mighty tires covered every crack in the concrete road, how the red light swept from the middle of the car window to the edges. _Wait, what?_ I didn't dwell on that last one, as I jumped into the air, trying to angle myself so the car hit my bag first. As I did, I saw what looked like an angry red gash in the universe slowly align itself in the centre of my field of vision, before the car struck , throwing me into it.

 **In another world**

A nameless group of scientists looked on in amazement as a both literal and metaphorical portal to their dreams opened itself in front of them. Oh, the decades they had spent researching, testing and theorizing, just to get this result! The hours spent testing on the homeless Humans and Faunus (mainly Faunus) that they found, the searching and capturing of the only person that could hope to make their dream come true! It was like heaven on earth for them! However, if anyone had bothered to look, they would have noticed an empty cage. A very important cage, that carried all of their hopes and dreams in. Did I mention it was empty?

Raven Branwen glared from a dark corner in the room, hidden by the shadows from overhead machinery and her training. She could have easily evaded the scientist's search parties, or escaped whenever she felt like it, but this organization was garnering interest from _her,_ so she thought it best to find out what they were doing, and why they needed her to do it. She had to say, she was shocked when she found out the answer. Inter-dimensional travel? It sounded insane, but the way they went about it meant that they mean business. After capturing Raven, they had kidnapped homeless people off of the streets, or gone to towns where the Faunus population wouldn't be missed and taken them away. Afterwards the trapped them in cages and unlocked their auras forcibly, before forcing (like they could ever make Raven do what they wanted by force) to open and maintain a portal. Once that was done, to put it simply, they boosted the portals power using the aura of dozens of the people they captured, willingly or not, whether they were man, woman, or child. If their reactions were anything to go by, they had succeeded. At first Raven was tempted to let the experiment continue, to see what the possible results could be, and how worried she should be by the Queen's growing interest, but a groan from her left distracted her. The caged people were lying limply on the floor, lacking the strength to stand, or even scream from the pain they were being put through. A person's aura was their soul projected and theirs was being sucked away from them by towering machines. Raven quickly made her choice. She cut the lights.

 **Random Scientist pov**

I quickly grew silent as the power seemed to go out. Had the portal started taking electrical energy as well as aura energy to keep it going? Or maybe the test subjects had run out of aura and were beginning to die from exhaustion. Oh well. No-one cared about them, and they could always get more.

"Hey Janna, go check out what the readings say. Janna?" I turned around and noticed that a good quarter of the original team was missing. "Hey, where'd they go?" Suddenly another scientist was dragged of, so quickly he didn't even have time to scream before he disappeared into the darkness. "What's going on here?" Taking out a walkie-talkie, I said "Guards, where are you? We need help here, now!" I was met with static. I glanced fearfully around the room, as my colleagues seemingly vanished before they could blink. Soon, I was the only one left. I glanced fearfully in every direction, flinching at the tiniest of sounds, hoping I could save myself from this unseen monster. It was then that my eyes glanced across the cage. The empty cage

"Oh no…"

 **Raven's pov**

Having dealt with all the scientists and guards, I recovered my sword from one of the rooms and quickly opened all of the cages, dragging out the unconscious people inside. As I turned to leave, however, I saw my portal. My lack of concentration was making it flicker in and out, and whenever it flickered in, it was never the same place as before. She quickly cancelled her portal. Better to leave on foot for now, than check first-hand if there were any lasting effects to her semblance. She left a beacon for any nearby police to check out the lab she was in, before leaving the facility and hiding from any that might look for her.

 **Okay, the first chapter is done! I'm not 100% sure if I will be able to update this regularly, but while the holiday is going on, I'll try! Please leave a review on what I could improve on**


	2. My start, their finish

I felt like I was being stretched, squished, burnt, frozen, expanded, shrunk, destroyed, created, thrown and pulled all at the same time. I screamed in fear of what was happening in this sea of red that was constantly changing course. I felt like I was spinning, until all of a sudden I was spat out, hitting the ground hard before rolling a few meters away. When I looked back at where I had been, I saw that large red gash again before it flickered out of existence. Slowly I tried to get up, but my whole body hurt, especially the part that got hit by the car. _Thank goodness it hit my bag_ I thought. I slowly tilt my head around me, while staying on the floor. Where was I? I certainly wasn't in the same town as I had been in before. I was on the edge of a forest for crying out loud! But that was impossible. I tried to recall what had led up to this point; it could help determine where I was, how I got here, or just check to see if I had a concussion. Okay. So, I had been walking home from school after the football match. I saw, and then ran, from those thugs. I got hit by the car. I fell into that red… thing. I fell, or was it flew? Anyway, I went through the red stuff, and then I landed here. But how could I be here? Was it that red stuff? Where was here? I groaned as I started to push myself upwards into a sitting position. I took a better look around myself. I was definitely on the edge of a forest, which still made no sense, and not too far away from me was a small village. It looked like those villages they show in history lessons, with the wooden homes, the inns, the people walking around with swords. There was smoke coming from the chimneys, and… wait. The smoke wasn't coming from the chimneys. And those men walking around with swords? They weren't walking. They were running. Sprinting, even. Some towards the source of the smoke, and some away from the smoke. Those without any weapons were mainly running away, or trying to find somewhere to hide, or were simply crying in the middle of the cobbled street. _Just what have I gotten myself into?_

I put my hand on a tree and slowly pulled myself up. Once I was on two feet, I slowly began to limp my way closer, keeping a hand on my right side, which still hurt like hell from getting hit by the car. As I slowly trudged closer, the sounds of what must have been fighting got quieter. The village felt more like a ghost town with every passing moment, and I began to sweat buckets from the fear and anticipation I was feeling. I crept into the settlement, only to see the collapsed buildings I hadn't been able to see from further away. Against my better judgement, I moved further into the town, trying to stay as quiet as possible. As I crept further into the town, I saw a puddle and looked at the reflection of myself inside it. My clothes had gotten slightly muddy from my landing (I still don't know where I am, or just how I got there), but I also took a good look at my face. I could just make out my white, curly hair in the muddy water. And when I say white, I don't mean blond. I mean white. Like, Danny Phantom white (search it up). My brown skin was a little bruised (yes, I have brown skin and white hair, it's weird), with a couple of scratches, but what surprised me were my eyes. They had completely changed colour. What was before a caramel brown was now a sky blue. I rubbed my eyes to make sure I was seeing things clearly, or maybe it was to rub away the blue. It changed nothing. Deciding to ignore that for now, I continued to walk through the village, keeping low and quiet.

As I turned a corner, however, I saw something that made me freeze. It looked like a bear, but it just wasn't. Its skin was the darkest black I had ever seen, with bone plating covering most of its back, with a few patches here and there unarmoured. It had claws as long as my wrist to fingertip, and to be honest, I was glad I couldn't see its face. I slowly crept past the alleyway it was in, while it casually lumbered in the other direction. Trying to keep my breath calm in case I had an asthma attack (yes, I have asthma, and having an asthma attack now could kill me), I kept searching. I wasn't consciously sure of what I was looking for until I saw it. _Survivors._ I saw a little girl, no more than 7 years old, lying underneath the steps leading up to a building. I quickly limped over to her, ducking underneath the steps as well to check on her condition. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her breathing, and then moved her to check for any other injuries. There didn't seem to be anything too worrying, just a couple minor scrapes and bruises, nothing she couldn't wake up from. _I've got to get her out of here_ I thought. But how? I couldn't exactly carry her out, especially if that black _thing_ came after them. He peeked out from his cover and saw a small, hay-covered wheelbarrow that would be large enough to carry her in. _Perfect._ Ilooked left and right, before dragging her over and placing her into the cart, then placing my sports bag next to her. With a bit of struggle I managed to lift up the wheelbarrow and started leaving the village the same way I had arrived. The sooner I could leave that place, the better.

However, when I glanced back at her after hearing her shuffle, I noticed something strange. _Is that a tail? I must not have noticed it in my hurry to look for injuries. Wait, she even has cat ears?_ I cast one last looks at her. She had long red hair, upon which two cat ears sat. Her facial features were soft, and she looked kinda nice, breathing in and out softly. She was wearing a white shirt, with a large black line going through the middle, and a black collar. _Kinda like Ben 10._ She was wearing black, loose trousers, and black shoes. I decided not to focus on that for now. _I can ask her about this stuff later._ I continued on the path we were on, thinking of just how I could have gotten here, and where I might be. My stomach rumbled. _And what to eat. And where to sleep. And just what to do if that bear thing decides to make an appearance._ Tomorrow couldn't come soon enough in my opinion.


	3. A continuing Journey

**Hello there! Bomberguy789 here, and I just wanted to tell anyone who's been reading the story so far to please leave a review, whether you are a guest or not. It would really help me out, and you can throw in some ideas of where you want this story to go. Seriously, I'm making things up as I go along here, by which I mean I figure out how the chapter will end once I'm halfway through writing it. All reviews are welcome! Anyway, back to the story.**

It was nearing night time when she finally woke up with a start. The sudden action made me stagger a bit under the sudden weight she put on the cart I was pulling, but I managed not to fall over. I could practically feel her looking around at everything in confusion before her eyes settled on me. I glanced back at her.

"Good, you're awake. How are you feeling?" She narrowed her eyes at me.

"Where am I? Who are you? Where are you taking me? What have you done with the other Whi-"

"Whoa whoa, calm down a second. Now, I am going to answer to the best of my abilities, be keeping in mind that my abilities, other than tying knots and running, are pretty bad so you might not like the answers you receive. Now, what was the first question?" She looked down at me curiously. Every once in a while I had to look away to keep my eye on the path, but aside from that, she had a pretty good view of my face. She kept on glancing at my white hair, and my shockingly blue eyes (I still had no idea how that last one happened).

"Where am I?" I felt kinda bad about my response, but it was the truth.

"Well, if the sun rises in the west and sets in the east, then maybe two or three hours walk to the west away from that village you were in. I can't really be 100% sure though. I don't know just to what extent carrying all this has slowed me down. Outside of that, I have absolutely no idea where we are. I was actually hoping you could shed some light on that. What happened to that village?" As the day's events came back to her, the little girl started to cry.

"It... it was the Grimm. They came in hundreds. They destroyed everything! They... they took away Patrick..." The girl began to sob uncontrollably. I felt like a jerk, even though I had no real reason to. What could I have done? I don't even know how I got here! What even were these "Grimm" she was talking about? And who was this Patrick? I took another look at her. The sight of her with her hair in front of her face, her own personal waterworks, her cat ears drooping (I still needed to ask her about that) and her small arms hugging herself, well, It almost brought a tear to my eye. What do you mean I cried a little? I swear some dust flew into my eyes. Maybe it was the hay from the cart. I turned back around, looking ahead in silence. I think she needed to let out these tears. As far as I could see, she had lost her parent, I guess? _My parents... they must be so worried. How am I going to get back to them if I still have no idea where I am?_ I chuckled a little, making sure the girl didn't hear me. _If I do this right, mum won't even notice the maths homework I forgot to do._ After a couple minutes, the girl's cries of despair quietened down. I checked how she looked. Her eyes were red and puffy, and it looked like she had fallen asleep again from all that crying. I never understood how that worked. Crying had only ever given me a headache in the past, and I would note that while I was crying, I was thinking perfectly normally, and would wonder why. While crying. Strange, right?

It was pretty dark when the girl woke back up again. Her eyes were still puffy, and I was really feeling the burn from pulling the cart around for hours (sure, I did take breaks, but they were kinda far between. I did _not_ want to see the "Grimm" this girl had been talking about). Deciding now was as good a time as any; I put down the cart so we could sleep. The girl was looking at me strangely, as if she noticed something about me for the first time. I decided now was a good time to find out more about her.

"So, what's your name?" My voice sounded a little rough, since I hadn't said anything since landing wherever here was a couple hours ago. After a small instance of hesitation, she said

"Jane. Jane Selworth. Who're you?" Her voice was light and soft, but also cautious. I guess that's more or less understandable. It's why I always ask the nice guy with the white van to bring the sweets to me, not bring me to the sweets.

"My name's Jack. Jack Jameson. Nice to meet you, although, I'm sorry about how we met." _Darn it! Why did I have to mention that?_ I could see Jane trying to keep the tears at bay. In the end, she managed to fight them off so she could ask her next question.

"Why did you find me, and where are you taking me?" Yeah, she definitely didn't trust me.

"You were underneath a building, and there was this huge black bear thing walking around. It wouldn't exactly be a very nice thing for me to do if I left you there, would it? And as for where we're going, well, I don't know. What's west of that village you were in?" She looked at me curiously, almost disbelievingly.

"How can you not know? Everyone knows where Vale is. What kind of dunces are they letting in now, if you don't know that?" She looked around quickly, before she asked me something I should have thought about ages ago. "What do you have to eat? And what are we using for the fire?" My eyes widened. I'm not sure how, but it was only when she mentioned it that I realised just how much I was starving. And what was I going to do to keep out the cold? Jeez, I am bad at this if I thought _I_ might be able to take care of Jane. At least, until I found someone else that could do a better job than me.

"Oh! Right! I'll go and look for something. Hang on a second." I quickly walked over to my sports bag and took out my phone. The battery was still pretty high, but with nowhere to charge it I would have to be careful how I used it. I turned back to Jane and said "I'll be back soon. While I'm gone, you can, um, uh; you can... use my jumper! Yeah, just use my jumper to keep warm. It's inside my bag. 'Kay, don't go anywhere!" Turning on my torch icon on my phone, I started walking into the forest. Back at the make-shift camp, Jane made her way to my bag and took out my jumper. When she noticed there weren't any special markings on it, she grew confused. _Just what kind of Faunus is he?_ She thought.

I meanwhile, was trying to find something edible. There weren't any recognisable fruit around, so I stuck with what I knew about berries – if it's red, it's probably poisonous. With this in mind, I only took the berries that were either blue or black, and made sure to try one to make sure it wasn't poisonous before taking more to bring back to Jane for us to eat. While doing this, I had a lot to think over. For example, I still had no idea where I was. Where was Vale? I'd never heard of it before, but the girl made it sound like the most obvious place in the world. And there were still the cat ears and tail! There hadn't been a good time to bring it up, but I still wanted to know just what was going on there. And what about my parents? When was I going to see them again? Were they worried about me? Actually, scratch that last one, I know my parents, they were definitely worried. I just wish I could do something to make them worry less. With all these thoughts swirling around my head, I almost didn't notice the low growl coming from behind me. I turned around, and came face-to-face with burning red eyes. I froze in fear as I looked into what I thought to be hell itself. It looked like a boar, but it had some of the same features that the large bear thing had in that village Jane was in. Its two tusks looked as sharp as daggers, and its armour as hard as iron. I was scared out of my wits. _Is this how it's going to end? I always hoped I would die because my awesomeness was creating a paradox in the universal dankness, so with a mighty dab, I would be thrown into a black hole, but not before 360 no-scoping some noob/scrub in the head with a pistol cross-map while wearing some sick shades and –_ the boar walked past me. As my mind slowed down from working its impromptu overtime workout, I realised something.

It was moving quickly, and it was heading straight for Jane.

 **You know, cliff-hangers are actually a lot of fun when you right them yourself. Suckers to all those reading this though. Anyway, if you're wondering why the Grimm keep on leaving James alone, don't worry. I'll reveal that later on. Also, who can guess what group Jane was in? Go on, have a guess. It begins with W, and ends with hite-**

 **Anyway, one final thing before I go, if you're disappointed with the names, then sorry, they were the best I could think of (not that there's such thing as a bad name. Everyone's different), so if you can think of a character you would like to add and what their name would be, let me know. See ya!**


	4. A fight in the woods

I cautiously jogged around the boar thing. It didn't seem at all interested in me, but that doesn't mean I wanted to test my luck. My fear of the thing had begun to lessen. Now I was just worried if it would be interested in Jane. As soon as I made it back, I quickly shook Jane to get her attention, before motioning to be silent. "But why?" she whispered.

"There's a black boar thing coming. We need to get out of here!" I said quietly. Just because it didn't seem to care about me, doesn't mean I wanted to take any chances. She nodded in agreement, but I could see the fear creeping onto her face. "Hey," I said, crouching down and putting my hand on her shoulder. "We'll be fine." I put my bag back on the cart and started pulling it along, while trying to keep it quiet. Jane was walking alongside of me, constantly looking fearfully at the tree-line. I began to pull the cart along faster, hoping that the boar thing would just pass us by, and that the direction it was going in was just a coincidence. Unfortunately, because the universe can be a jerk sometimes, it wasn't.

The black boar (that's what I decided to call it) came charging at us from the side, letting out a bloodcurdling screech as it did so. I dropped the cart and pushed Jane to the side before jumping as well. The black boar went straight past us before stopping and turning around eyeing us. It stomped its feet, getting ready to charge again. I quickly tried to sort through what I and Jane's options were. _Run for it? No, this thing was too fast. Fight it? Yeah, I'm sure I can totally punch through that bone plating surrounding it. Think Jack, think! What can I do?_ I looked at our surroundings, and noticed all the trees around. The very thick trees... _Oh God I hope this works._ I looked over at Jane. She looked terrified. Her lips were trembling, and her hands were twitching uncontrollably. _Was this one of those "Grimm" that she was talking about?_ I pushed that thought aside for now. I tried to fight back the terror I was feeling, tried to keep it out of my voice when I said "Jane! Head for the trees! I've got a plan!" She looked at me, before looking back at the beast. It let out a screech before charging again. Jane took off running, but when the beast started chasing after her, I picked up a nearby rock and threw it at the black boar. I managed to nail it in the eye, making it screech and change its course to charge at me. _Does that count as lucky?_ I waited until the last moment before diving out of the way when the boar got to close. Now, to clear up any confusion, these weren't professional dives that I was doing. No, this was me diving and sliding a bit on my side or front. This meant that when I had dived to the side once again, I landed on the side that got hit by a car, which made the bruise flair up in pain again. I winced at the agony my side was feeling, but I didn't have any time to focus on that. Picking up another stone, I ran to the tree that Jane was hiding behind, grabbed her, and started running.

You see, my plan was fairly simple. In the forest, there were plenty of trees around. So I figured if the black boar started chasing us in here, sooner or later it would hit something, which would either knock it out from the speed it was going, or get its tusks stuck. When that happened, I would use the rock that I grabbed to try and kill it. Maybe the latter part of the plan could use some work but hey, it was the best I could come up with under the circumstances. I glanced behind us. The black boar had slowed down to get through the trees, meaning that if it hit us, it (hopefully) wouldn't be fatal. As we were running away, my mind was taking the second overtime shift it had taken within the same ten minutes. _Okay, it's slowed down, that's great! Not! It won't crash into anything, and it can still trample me and Jane! I've got to get Jane to a safe place before I try anything. But how? The only possible safe place for her is up a tree, and there's no way she could climb up a tree in time._ I looked down at Jane, who was trying her best to keep up with me while I drag her along. Her long red hair was billowing behind her, like a column of flames. Her face was drawn tight, and I could see she was scared, and that fear was keeping her going. Her tail was swinging around behind her, keeping her balanced whenever she was close to tripping (tails are surprisingly useful to cats). _Her tail..._

"Jane! How well can you use your tail?!" Jane glanced at me confused.

"What?!"

"Your tail! How well can you use it?" She still looked confused, but decided not to question it as we heard the boar thing let out another screech. It was gaining on us.

"It's as simple as breathing to me! Why?" I looked for what I would need to carry out "operation: get Jane up a tree." Inventive, I know. A little to the right I saw a tall tree with a low hanging branch. I prayed this would work.

"How fast could you climb up a tree with it?"

"What are you talking ab-"

"How fast?!" It took her less than a second to realize what I meant.

"Faster than the Boarbatusk. But what about" That was all I needed to hear. Dragging us towards the tree, I suddenly pulled Jane close before throwing her as hard as I could at the lower branch. She managed to catch on to it with her tail and pulled herself up without any difficulty. Stopping for a second, I turned around and threw the rock at the Boarbatusk (I guessed that was what it was called). The rock bounced off of its bone plating, but it did focus its attention on me.

"Come and get it, you big black bacon ba..." I glanced up at seven year old Jane. "aaad thing I don't like!" Nailed it! The Boarbatusk screeched in rage and refocused all of its attention on me. _Does that count as a good thing?_ I took off running again, taking its focus away from Jane. Without having to drag Jane along, I was able to run faster than before but that was only delaying the inevitable. _Think James! Think like your life depends on it! Because if you haven't noticed, it does!_ All of a sudden, the thunder of hooves stopped behind. I slowed down to catch my breath and turned to see what was happening. The Boarbatusk had stopped and for a moment I allowed myself to relax. Then, it did a small hop into the air, before rolling into a ball and dashing towards me at an astonishing pace, completely demolishing the small trees that had been between us. _What? That doesn't even make sense! Just how... screw you universe._ I jumped out of the way a second before it rolled past me, a hit that would have killed me for sure if I hadn't gotten out of the way. Looking back, I saw the beast continue its path of destruction before hitting a large boulder, which stunned it and left it lying on its back. _Now's my chance._ I looked for anything I could use and saw what remained of the body of a small tree, its ends broken, but one end of the tree had a sharp point from getting torn away. I picked it up and ran over towards the Boarbatusk, which was still trying to get its bearings back. Letting out a yell, I jumped in the air before stabbing its unprotected stomach. My makeshift spear broke through its hide, burying itself deep while the Boarbatusk continued to struggle. Slowly, it began to stop struggling, until a dark mist began to pour off of its skin. I pulled out the tree I had used to stab it with, and slumped onto my back, exhausted. I continued to lie there for a whole minute, until I remembered Jane. I slowly pushed myself up, but when I went to pick up my forest grown spear, I noticed my hands were shaking. I'd been terrified the entire time that Boarbatusk had been chasing me, and I almost fell back down as the terror finally released itself. But I couldn't falter now. I needed to get back to Jane, and put on a brave face for her. Steeling my nerves, I grabbed my new spear and slowly followed the destruction the Boarbatusk had left behind to the tree I had thrown Jane onto.

When I got back to where I thought I had left Jane, I couldn't see her. Worry started to get into my voice when I called out "Jane? Jane, where are you? Jane?!" I suddenly heard a flurry of leaves, and turned around to see Jane upside down behind me, grinning.

"Got you." I laughed in relief, glad to see she was okay.

"Jeez, don't do that to me. I was worried!" She continued grinning at me, and I couldn't help but smile back. I heard a tint of worry in her voice, however, when she asked

"What happened to the Boarbatusk?" I put on as much false bravado as I could, and used the manliest voice I could muster when I bellowed

"One Boarbatusk? Against me? Hah! It didn't stand a chance. I slowly lured it into a false sense of security by running in what _looked_ like abject fear, when all of a sudden, bam! I lifted it up, threw it in the air, broke off part of a tree with my bare teeth and stabbed it in the heart. All with my eyes closed, because I am that amazing!" Jane began to laugh at my display of manliness, all traces of fear gone. I smiled slightly wider when I noticed this, and began to laugh alongside her. Once she climbed down from the tree, we made our way back to the cart (we almost got lost since it was still dark, but the light on my phone would put us back on the right path), which for the most part looked untouched. A far cry from the two who had been using it, but we didn't really mind. Jane let out a loud yawn, clearly tired from the previous events, and the fact that it was night time clearly wasn't helping. In a bad imitation of an English butler, I said "Would the lady like to make her way onto the carriage?" while motioning to the farmer cart. Jane giggled a little before saying, in an equally bad posh accent,

"But of course. It is only befitting of a lady such as me to accept your request as humbly as possible." She gave a quick curtsy before climbing onto the cart and settling in the hay. With more difficulty than I wished to admit (hey, I hurt my left side again, and killed a Boarbatusk. What have _you_ done?), I picked the cart back up, and we continued on our journey.

 **In an unknown location...**

"Hey, check it out! A whole new season of "Dogs, Cats and Hamsters galore!" has come out!"

Well that was anti-climatic.

"Get back to work! If we don't find anything useful, then I've got to tell _her_ what went wrong! So take this seriously! If I was ever in need of a silver lining..." A small group of armed men were combing the countryside, looking for something, _anything_ that wasn't normal. They weren't having much luck, and by the state of the sorry town they were next to, there were Grimm nearby that they wanted to get away from as soon as possible. The silence was shattered when one of the men in the group shouted out

"I've found something!" Everyone quickly hurried to his location, keeping alert in case any Grimm – or townspeople – was still around to see what they were doing. Upon approach of the one who had called for them, the leader saw deep marks in the ground. Something had landed here, and it wasn't any kind of Grimm. She smiled, a feature she rarely ever used, and which caused her subordinates to inwardly shiver. Something had landed here, and nothing was going to stop her from finding it.


	5. The end of the beginning

The next day I was still pulling the cart along, despite how tired I was from the lack of sleep. I consciously thought that it was to get to this "Vale" sooner in the hope of getting help, but subconsciously I knew it was because I was afraid that if I stayed in one place too long, I would meet another one of those Grimm creatures. I still kept what was soon becoming my lucky spear with me, and at random points in the journey I had picked up stones on the pathway to better my weapon. I couldn't do much to sharpen it, as it was only sharp from being broken in the first place, but I was able to smooth the edges of the spear a little so I was less likely to get a splinter from it. Not much but hey, it was worth something. I heard Jane fidget a little in the hay. I glanced back to look at her and smiled. When I was certain she was asleep I took my jumper back out of my bag and put it on her. She seemed to be comfortable inside it, and her tail was wrapped around herself. She looked cute, snuggling against my bag with a grin on her face. I looked at my clothes in comparison. If anyone was around they would consider me a very strange fellow indeed. I was still wearing my football stuff from yesterday, but my shirt and shorts had gotten ripped from all those times I dived away from the Boarbatusk, and they were caked brown in some areas from all the mud that I had fallen into. I gave a small sigh as I remembered the events that had taken place a couple hours prior. Man that thing was terrifying. Continuing to trudge further along, I saw something that got my spirits up. Food! Well, fruit, but that's the same thing! All I'd eaten during the night was the squashed berries I had collected when I first saw the Boarbatusk, and I knew that Jane would be starving once she woke up. I quickened my pace until I could place down the cart (gently mind you, I didn't want Jane to wake up) next to the berries. And they were Strawberries! Finally something I recognised in this strange land I'd found myself in! I tore out as many berries as I could, before glancing at Jane and giving half to her. Then I remembered just how much younger she was than me (I was 16 and she was 7) so I gave her half of what I had left. I walked further into the bushes, eating as much as I could while at the same time saving some for Jane. Pretty soon my stomach was full, and with it, my mood was lifted. Returning to the cart, I put the strawberries I had collected next to Jane, before deciding to catch some sleep. I climbed further back in the cart so as not to disturb Jane before drifting off to sleep.

It would be fair to say that my dream was a strange one. You see, dreams are the brain's way of shifting through all the events that have taken place previously, so obviously you're brain doesn't try hard to remember them. It's already processed information after all. This is why when you do happen to remember your dreams, you'll notice the complete lack of order or logic, or that events that took place over long periods of time or were especially important will be most dominant. All of this meant that my dream was, to me at least, truly terrifying. I was back in my hometown, and I was walking down the street, when all of a sudden the Boarbatusk appeared in front of me, and it charged strait for me but I couldn't move out of the way and when I finally could I jumped out of the way but now I was on the road and the bear thing **(chapter 2 if you're interested)** was rushing towards me but this time I could see its face and it let out a roar before its face split open and swallowed me whole **(Stranger things, anyone?)** and I could feel the pressure surrounding my face and then I was falling in a sea of red and I was screaming and then

Silence. I was floating gently in absolute darkness, but I wasn't afraid. Instead I felt calm and peaceful. I looked down at myself, and saw that I was wearing the casual clothes I had in my bag. This consisted of a bright orange t-shirt and sky blue jogging bottoms. I'd been wearing these for the past few days because hey, if it's not broken (those who care about fashion would disagree), why fix it? I was content to simply let myself continue to float around; away from the troubles I was facing in the real world, like the lack of knowledge of, well, everything. I didn't know where I was, what the Grimm actually were, I still hadn't asked Jane about her tail and ears, I didn't know what I needed to do, and to top it all off, how was I going to get home? To my family? These were questions I could ignore in the darkness, where I could float in peace.

"Interesting. You could prove to be useful to me in the future." Darn it universe. I slowly turned around to see a desolate wasteland. The sky was a deep red; with the few clouds drifting pass a brighter, almost blood-like, red. The plains were barren as far as the eye could see, with no forms of life anywhere in sight. The only source of light was a broken moon ( _Why's the moon broken? Are those pieces still a part of its gravity? Why haven't they fallen back down? You know what, never mind_ ) which shone down to show these strange clusters of purple crystals, some of which were partially red at the points. Cliffs as tall as skyscrapers rose in the distance, partially obscured by a few low hanging clouds. My mind noticed all this, before focusing on the creepy lady in front of me. She was wearing a long black robe that stretched down until it seemingly brushed the floor (must have been a pain, having to clean it all the time), and it had red lines going through the middle in a pattern. I'm not sure how to describe it that well. The pattern looked like a long necklace was hanging from her back, and was shooting out five rays of something in symmetrical fashion. Her skin was pale, but her veins were easy to see. Whether they were on her skin or that bright beneath it, I didn't know. Her hair was tied up into a bun with thick strands branching out from it on both sides. It looked like the top of a huge spider, and when she turned around well, it didn't exactly paint a better image. Her eyes seemed to glow a threatening red, and her veins seemed to congregate around them. She had what looked to be a black jewel in her forehead, and she was looking at me with a knowing smirk. My throat dried up, and my eyes seemed to be transfixed by her face. Honestly, I couldn't go one day without being terrified? I thought my dreams were my time out!

"Your journey seems to have changed you. The white hair suits you in my opinion." She gave a small chuckle. I didn't feel like telling her how my pure white hair was something I'd been born with, or that it was my eyes that changed. Instead, I asked what was far more important to me at the time.

"What do you know about my arrival? How do I get back? Who are you? And what's up with your uh, skin disease? Is that what it is? Are you albino or is that just something that-"

"Silence!" I grew quiet. Dam my overactive brain! The woman calmed down before giving me a threatening glare, and saying quietly "All shall be revealed in time. For now, I must hope that you see sense and, when the time comes, listen to me. I look forward to meeting you again, Jack."

I woke up with a start, sitting upright and wondering what just happened. There was no way that final part was anything other than a dream, right? I mean, sure, this place was weird with its animal people (still need to ask Jane about that), its Grimm and whatever that red portal thing was, but visions? Nah, there's no way that could be real. That only ever happened in stories, or bad fan fictions made by people with too much spare time. Deciding to ignore it for now, I reached up groggily to wipe the sleep away from my eyes and woke up somewhere unfamiliar. I racked my mind to remember the events from earlier today. I'd placed the cart down next to a bush of strawberries, eaten some, collected some for Jane, and then I got into the cart and fell asleep. So, why was I on a bed? I took a look around the room I was in. There was one of those old wooden wardrobes in the left corner of the room next to a window with wooden shutters. Opposite the single bed I was in was a writing desk, complete with a small lamp and a couple cabinets underneath. On my right was a full length mirror, and above me was a small overhanging light, but it was turned off at the moment, so all the light in the room was coming from the window behind my bed, and the one next to the wardrobe. _Why am I in someone's cottage?_ I slowly got up from underneath the blankets and realized that I was still wearing my football kit, but that my trainers were on the floor. _At least that means it wasn't some weirdo with a thing for youngsters that took us in._ Next to my trainers was my sports bag, which had everything inside except for my jumper. _I guess Jane is still wearing that._ I decided that now was I good time to change, so I took of my football clothes and put on my casual clothes. It felt good to wear something familiar and comfortable, especially since this would protect me from the cold and wind far better than my shirt and shorts.

I slowly opened the door to find out more about where I was, and why I was there. I was next to two other rooms, one of which I could see was the bathroom and on my left was what I guessed was another bedroom. On my right were staircases that lead to the front door of the house. Realising I had no idea where Jane was, I rushed down the stairs, looking right and seeing what looked to be the living room. Deciding to head there first, I crashed into Jane as she walked out of it, but I luckily managed to catch her before she fell. She was still wearing the same clothes as she had the day before, except she had put the hood on my jumper up, which I noticed covered her cat ears. Her tail was also nowhere in sight, but I decided to ask the more important questions first.

"There you are! Sorry for crashing into you! Are you okay?" I said apologetically. Jane smiled up at me while she regained her balance.

"I'm fine James, don't worry. How are you?"

"I'm fine, don't worry about me. Hey, where are we? And what happened to your tail and ears?" Jane looked worried when I said that before checking to make sure no one was nearby or heard that. I grew concerned when she did this before I lent down so she could whisper into my ear.

"We're staying with humans. I had to hide my Faunus features; otherwise they might not have let us stay!" My concern for Jane was growing. Not really for me, since I wasn't a Faunus so I would be fine if anything happened, but I wasn't going to abandon Jane! Sure, I'd only known her for a day and for a lot of that time she was asleep, but that didn't matter to me. On a side note, I realized that whatever a Faunus was, not only was Jane one, but she thought I was too. Maybe her animal parts made her a Faunus?

"Where are we, and how did we get here?"

"When I woke up I saw you were asleep, so after eating the strawberries you gave me I went exploring and"

"Do you know how dangerous it is for you to explore the forest alone? What if something happened to you?" Jane got a grumpy look on her face when I said that and crossed her arms in front of her.

"Hey! I'm a big girl, Patrick always said so, and I can take care of myself! Besides, if something came to get me I could just run away, or use your pointy stick to hit them with! Anyway, while I was exploring I saw them because I can see well in the dark and it was morning, but they were human so they couldn't see me well underneath all the shadows from the trees. Then one of them said "What are you doing here?" so I said I was exploring and then they asked if I was alone and I said no, you were with me but you were sleeping in the cart, so they asked me if I was human and I said yes because they would be mean to me if I said no and that I was in the White Fang, so they said we could stay with them for a while, so I ran back to you but you were still asleep so I put on your jumper and hid my tail in my trousers and then they came and pulled the cart and now here we are!" I blinked a couple times from the long and fast explanation that Jane just gave me. I was still able to make out the important parts, like how she found the humans in the forest and how she had to hide her animal features. But who were the White Fang? Just another question to add to my growing list. I would have to find away to ask Jane about them. I least now I knew that she had a tail and cat ears because she's a Faunus.

"Have you eaten anything other than the strawberries?" Jane shook her head.

"Breakfast is ready!" I heard the voice coming from the room to the right of the living room. Turning back to Jane I motioned to the room it came from.

"Then let's go eat." Jane shook her head at me, looking fearful.

"But they're humans! What if they find out what we are and try to hurt us?" I can see just how worried Jane is, so I crouch down properly and hug her.

"I won't let anything happen to you. Besides, we need a proper breakfast if we're going to hit the road again. So come on. If anything happens, I'll protect you." Standing up, I took her hand and lead her in the direction of the smell of breakfast. Upon reaching the kitchen, I was greeted by an old lady who was serving out the food on four plates. When she saw me, she put on a dazzling smile and turned towards the man who I assumed was her husband, who was looking at this hologram coming from his handheld device. _Whatever that is, I want one._

"He's awake! Good, you're just in time for breakfast. We wouldn't want to start without you, and Jane was so shy while you were asleep! But don't worry, it's all fine now. Come, eat something! You look like you haven't seen a decent meal in a while." She was right. The last meal I had eaten was a small lunch from before I fell into that weird red portal. I sat down opposite the old man and began to dig in to the food that was given to me. It tasted delicious, and because of that I almost missed the question that the husband asked me.

"Hey kid, why is your hair so white? You're not a Faunus, are you?" He fixed me with a questioning gaze. At first I was tempted to lie, but then I remembered; I had literally no reason to lie whatsoever.

"It's a genetic malfunction sir. Something went wrong while I was being made so instead of black hair, I now have this." He seemed mostly satisfied with my answer, but he still had a hint of suspicion. Deciding to keep the conversation going, I asked "What do you have against the Faunus anyway? I'll be honest; I've never actually met one." That was mostly true. Up until I fell outside the village, I had no idea they even existed. Maybe they still didn't, and I was further from home than I thought.

"They're all just a bunch of savages. Giving animals like them rights was a mistake in my opinion. I mean, look at all the kindness we showed them, and then look at what they did with it; they created the White Fang, and started blowing up our homes! If I ever see a Faunus in my home, it'll be seeing the bad side of a shotgun." I looked at the man worried. I didn't need to meet every Faunus in the world to know that this man's racism was wrong. Everyone's different, so judging the many based on the actions of (what I hoped was) the few, well that's just wrong. _This reminds me of those lessons about racism towards black people they taught us in school. No wonder Jane was scared. I'm going to have to leave here as soon as possible._ I finished my food as quickly as possible before thanking them and running upstairs to get my stuff. When I came back down Jane was already by the front door, clearly wanting to leave after the things that old man had told us. We were just exiting the door when the old woman shouted out

"What are you doing?" Jane glanced up at me worriedly, so I quickly turned and said

"We were just about to hit the road again. We didn't want to take up any more of your time given how kind you've been to us." _I wonder how they would react if they knew about Jane._ "Besides, we want to get to Vale as soon as possible." The old lady frowned a little.

"Well at least let us drop you off. My husband Tony has a pickup truck out the back; we could drop you off if you wanted?" I smiled at the woman's kindness, and had to stop it turning into a grimace when I remembered just how racist she actually was.

"That would be very helpful, thanks. If we ever get the chance, I'll pay you back." _Not likely. I want to get as far away from these racist bigots as I can._ Roughly an hour later, we got out of the dirty red pickup truck and waved goodbye. As the old lady drove away, I turned back round to view the impressive sight of Vale. _Let's see how things go for us here._ With my sports back in one hand, which still had my clothes and trusty stick, and a nervous Jane (thankfully no longer hiding her Faunus heritage) in the other, I stepped through the borders to a new life.

 **Okay, this has been my longest chapter so far and is finally approaching the story arc I've wanted to write about for so long! If you are enjoying this story so far, or have something you want to happen or if there is something I need to fix, then don't forget to leave a review. Actually, just leave a review anyway. I don't even care what it says, or if you like the story or not, or whether you have an account or not. Just leave a review!**


	6. From not good, to much worse

Vale was an impressive sight to say the least. In the uptown districts I could see towering buildings, holographic street signs ( _So cool_ ) and cars were driving along a large motorway. In the commercial district I could see people walking around calmly, talking to their friends or just hanging out in a cafe or some other type of shop. I was surprised to see some teenagers with weapons strolling around casually, but no one seemed surprised to see them so I figured that, as weird as it was, it was an average sight to everyone. In the distance I could see what looked like a castle, complete with the old fashioned watchtower overlooking the city. The sun bouncing off the windows made it look like the watchtower was glowing, as if the protectors of this city were shining their heavenly glow on everyone. However, this city still had its faults. As me and Jane were wondering around, gazing at the impressive sights, I noticed what must have been the poor area of the city, and it surprisingly reminded me of home. Power cables connected the lamps together, and the signs were just ordinary signs. The people looked a bit shady, and some were giving nasty looks towards Jane, while some of what I assumed to be Faunus (like Jane) were giving nasty looks at me. I decided to stay clear of that area for now. Sure, I'd been able to handle that Boarbatusk, but that had been luck mostly on my part, and I doubted a stick would help me if I got surrounded. That wasn't to say I wasn't getting weird vibes from anyone else though. As I walked past a weapons shop ( _guess this place is basically America_ ) an older teenager who was wearing a large chest plate and was holding a mace sneered at me. I found it easy to ignore him. I really didn't care about who he was, or why he was interested in me. For now, I was more interested in finding a place to stay, or just trying to find someone to properly take care of Jane. Turning a corner, I saw a large building in front of me, and on it was a sign saying "Miss Loveheart's home for children". An orphanage! That was just what I needed. They would be able to take care of Jane far better than I could, and since you have to leave when you're 18 that would give me enough time to get used to this strange new world, and get back on my feet. At least, if I didn't find a way home first.

I walked in to the orphanage, hopeful that Jane would be able to start a new and better life within this building. The reception room was light blue in colour, with a large desk in front. There were a couple gray plastic seats on the edge of the room for those who were waiting, and a ceiling fan was whirring overhead. The receptionist looked up as I walked in, ready with a plastic smile which dimmed a little once she spotted Jane and made her take a second look at me.

"Good morning and welcome to Miss Loveheart's home for children. How can I help?" She sounded as if she had said those words a thousand times before, which she probably had. She must have still slightly enjoyed her job however, as it sounded like she was at least trying to be interested. Her clothes were average for the job she had – a white office blouse and a black skirt that went down to her knees. She had sunglasses resting on her shoulder length black hair.

"Hello miss, we were wondering if there was any way we could sign in to the orphanage. I'm not really sure how it works, but Jane lost her parents when her village was destroyed and I was passing through so I brought her here." The receptionist narrowed her eyes and when she spoke she was looking at Jane.

"I'm sorry sir, but we don't take _animals_ here. Only people can be adopted." I started growing angry. _Is every other human in this strange land a racist?_

"Then it's a good thing that we don't have any animals here. So, can we join or sign in or whatever the procedure is, or can't we?" The receptionist's face looked disgusted and indignant at me, leaning back to put some much wanted distance between us. Jane was hugging my side, scared of the mean lady, and was hiding herself behind me.

"How dare you talk to me like that, you _filthy beast_!" She shouted. Standing up, she pointed to the door and hissed "Get out, before I call the police and send you Faunus scum to jail!" I didn't feel like correcting her and saying how I was perfectly human. I didn't want the help of a racist bitch anyway. I could barely stand being in the pickup truck with the old lady! Sighing in contempt, I turned around and walked out of the door, Jane still holding onto my hand while my sports bag, with my trusty spear in it, hanging off the opposite shoulder.

It turned out that was the only orphanage in Vale. It was only filled with human children because as far as they were concerned, every Faunus child was secretly a spy for the White Fang who would hurt the other children. I'm almost glad we weren't accepted there. I shudder to think of the bullying Jane would have gone through each day. I doubt I would have been strong enough to protect her, or be around enough to keep her safe. But this meant that, like on our journey here, there was no roof above our heads to keep Jane out of the rain, or any walls to keep out the cold. The only protection Jane had from the icy winds was my jumper and her shirt, while all I had was my t-shirt. We had been wondering around the city for hours. I told Jane it was to explore Vale and to see the sights, but in reality it was me desperately trying to find either a place to stay or a place to work. And also to see the sights and explore. I was in an entirely new city, what did you think I was going to do, stare at the ground all day? This place was like nothing I'd ever seen before. Sure, I wasn't the greatest at geography, but there was no way I wouldn't have at least the tiniest smidge of a memory of finding out about a place like this. It was like Tokyo in terms of how technologically advanced it was, but American in terms of the general feel, with a couple of other European countries thrown in. Talk about a mix of culture.

It was approaching night time when I finally gave up. Late night partygoers were rising out of bed as the people of the dark took control of the street. There was a dance lounge nearby with the music going at full volume, making the entire street either clear out or make their way over. I walked with Jane into a dark alleyway and put down my stuff. I was regretting the talk I was about to have with Jane.

"Listen, Jane... we're going to have to sleep here tonight." Jane looked at me confused.

"Why are we sleeping inside this place?"

"We won't be sleeping inside. We'll be sleeping outside." This only confused Jane further.

But how are we going to get the beds outside?"

"There won't be any beds."

"But how will we stay warm?" This made me falter. I never thought I would have to be in this position.

"I... I don't know. No one is going to help us, so we will have to make do with what we've got." Jane grew sad as realisation dawned on her.

"Does... Does this mean we are homeless?" Casting my head down in shame, I nodded. Jane cast her head down too, but when she looked up again I could see a fire inside her eyes.

Usually in a story this is the part that talks about determination or whatever.

That just goes to show you haven't been paying attention. Now, there was a question I asked long ago (the day before). There was a group. I had wondered who they were. That question had been answered. If only I had been paying close enough attention...

"This is because of all the rotten humans who forced this upon us! This is why the White Fang exists! To fight this unfair oppression! This is why I joined the White Fang, so I could fight for my right to be equal!" My mind was a little slow to catch up. _But didn't the old man say they were..._ my eyes widened as I truly realised what Jane was saying. But Jane wasn't done.

"When I find the base of my people, I shall follow them into the new era, where I don't have to live the rest of my life ashamed to be who I am! In the name of Patrick Crimson, I shall fight!" She was heaving in anger, her chest rising and falling from her outburst. I needed to calm her down. After all, saying it was awkward to be next to a little girl who wanted to be a terrorist and kill you, just doesn't do it justice.

"But you could get hurt! Or worse, be hurting someone else who's innocent! How is making people fear and hate you supposed to make things better?" Jane sneered at me.

"Don't tell me you're a human sympathiser." _She avoided the question. Does anyone else smell a hint of YouTube feminism?_ "Look at what they have done to us today!"

"So you think all humans are like that?"

"I _know_ all humans are like that! Patrick had told me of the cruelty that humans have put upon us! The Schnees, the Futurites, even the Hunters have been beating us down ever since they met us, because that is all humans know! That is why I am willing to fight! So one day, when every filthy rotten human has been wiped off of the face of Remnant, I may have the freedom that I deserved!" I looked down in sadness. _How can I get her not to do this? She won't listen! Whenever I make a valid argument, she just ignores it!_ I wasn't really thinking about what I said next, but I was still blown away by the fact that a little girl wanted to join a terrorist group, so cut me some slack will you?

"But I'm human..." Jane stared at me, shock and horror appearing on her face. I began to feel a sense of impending doom as the terrorist wannabe slowly gained a look of anger on her face. If looks could kill, well... the Big Bang wouldn't look to major compared to this.

"You... you lied to me..." I actually got confused at this. When had I lied? I thought back to all the conversations I had had so far with Jane. They were surprisingly few and far between, mainly because I was pulling a cart for a lot of it, and she had been crying over the loss of her, well, everything. "You're not a Faunus... you never cared about me..." _Is that what she thinks? That because I am a human, I hadn't cared about her during all those times she was down?_

"Of course I cared about you! I wanted you to be OK! I wanted to find someone who could take care of you, properly! I wanted to-"

"Stop lying to me!" Tears were falling down Jane's face. She looked like she could break down at any moment. "You never cared. You only took me in so you could hurt me! Because you're human! And that is what humans do!" And with that, she turned tail (pun unintended) and ran. I was about to chase after her, tell her that I didn't want any of this to happen, maybe tell her this was because I came from another universe (that would have taken some confusing explaining), but I didn't. If I was ever going to win back her trust, it wouldn't be now. I had to let her go. So I slowly sat down next to my bag, homeless, penniless, bordering hungry and without anyone who cared. _Not even the person I really cared for._ So I leant next to my bag, in the dark alleyway, away from the prying eyes of the world, and slept.


	7. My first night in Vale

**Hello there readers of the world! I hope you've been enjoying this story so far, and I would once again like to ask you to leave a review if you like, dislike, or want to suggest something for the story. Heck, if you wanted to you could give me a character to use and I'll try my best to do them justice. By the way, thank you to** Shamwoo52, **even if you are a guest, you're criticism was great and has given me an idea of what to add to this story and has given me a better idea about how you feel about the story. Sorry I couldn't add this to the last chapter but I had written most of it, had school, and then just added the last part of the chapter. By the way, if anyone is willing to beta read this then please tell me, because I have a habit of not checking my work (sorry).  
Also a final thing, I just want to make clear I do NOT have a general story outlined. Past a few things introduced in this chapter, I have no idea what to do, so if you want then in your review you can give an idea of what you want to happen and I'll see if I can get it done. While this will annoy you, I don't want my character to become a hunter or rogue vigilante or something like that (police/private detective is fine if you want). This is because I don't really want my character to be any kind of OP fighter (you'll find out why later) who can take on hordes of enemies. Hey, he could be a janitor if you wanted him to be. That doesn't mean I'll definitely do it though, but chances are I'll try. Anyway, to the story!**

I slept about as well as you would expect for someone with nothing but a bag to rest my head on. It was cold outside and the wind felt like it was blowing stronger through the alleyway I was in. I woke up groggily with a pain in my neck and aches dotting my back in some of the most random places. Getting up I stretched myself out before everything that had happened the previous day came back to me. A couple (rivers of) tears came down my face but I wiped them away quickly. I needed to think of something to do not only take my mind off of everything, but also to come up with a way to find Jane and convince her that humans aren't all bad.

I walked out of the street with my sports bag and trusty spear, not that I was ever going to use it. Just because I had a weapon and the power to use it (not that it was a heavy spear) doesn't give me the right to use it. _I am getting way too philosophical about this. I need to find food to eat, then a job to get more food to eat. I could pass for 18 if I need to, and I have some average general skills. I hope that will be enough for something decent._ I walked through the city, looking for anywhere with a potential job application. I thought my luck was getting better when I saw a sign saying "Help wanted" _Time for my time to shine.  
_ I came back out a couple minutes later. The guy had an issue with Faunus and thought I was one, and I don't want to work with a racist, so I left. There was a fair bit of shouting if you're interested, and he threatened to send his son – a hunter in training at signal – at me, but I'd rather not describe it. Life in this strange place just really wasn't great and I was getting the worst end of the multiple sticks being thrown at me (you know, the pointy end).

I walked down the street, hoping things would turn around. I felt like I was dying of hunger, which was the first sign that I probably was and needed food soon. I came across a market place in one of the more lively parts of the city. People were bustling about, constantly trying to get the lowest price on their respective shopping lists. The owners of various stalls were practically shoving their various wares in the faces of potential customers, shouting about their own various deals or how "It is the best dust you can buy!" Did people really buy dust? Nah, dust has to mean something different here; the streets weren't always the cleanest. Besides, I could see a couple signs on the stall selling it. Ice dust _? What about that dust makes it icy? The color? And what is gravity dust? That sounds either dangerous, or hugely underwhelming._ I walked through, being drawn by the various sights and smell made by the food. I guess at the time I was going on autopilot at the time, but I had to switch back to manual drive to get past the perfume stands (and they said the garbage tips were awful. Dear god, I wished I was nose-blind), before I saw a fruit stand nearer the end of the market. I drifted closer, my mouth watering at the thought of fresh food. I drifted closer and closer, the owner still not noticing me. Once I was close enough I was looking through everything that was being sold. Apples, oranges, pears (ugh), vegetables (completely skipped past those) and every other fruit I could think of.

"Get away from here, Faunus scumbag!"

I looked up to see the owner of the stall glaring down at me. _Does everyone think I'm a Faunus? What's up with that?_ I looked back at the food hungrily before I realized the owner was still glaring at me. Deciding to try my luck before I went, I asked what I thought was actually a reasonable question.

"Is there any chance I could get a job and work for you?"

The woman stared at me incredulously. I was getting the feeling that I'd gone back to 1900's America, except I was a white guy with an incredibly heavy tan.

"Does it look like I want some thieving White Fang member stealing from my business? Get out of here!" And with that, the owner pushed me away, making me fall onto my back. Brushing myself off, I stood up glaring at her angrily before I walked away. _Is every human I meet here a racist? I almost agree with Jane's point of view. But there must be a human out there (other than me) who doesn't hate Faunus._ I skulked away before pulling an apple out of my pocket. When the stall owner pushed me over I was able to snag one and hid it in my pocket when I landed. I didn't exactly feel bad for stealing from people like her. I was starving and she was a racist with food. It wasn't exactly much of a choice.

I walked away, munching on my newly acquired apple. Now that I had already stolen one piece of fruit, I was more willing to take another, which seriously reminded me of how some super villains started out. But hey, like I could become that successful uh, I mean evil. I was walking further away from the market when I felt a hand on my shoulder. _Did she notice? If she did, then I am so screwed._ I turned behind me and deciding there was no point hiding it, I kept on chewing the apple. What I saw behind me confused me, as it definitely wasn't what I was expecting.

It was a Faunus. He was roughly 5 feet tall, and had a mop of black hair covering his head. His eyes were a deep red and seemed to be searching for something in mine, which I found a little creepy. Maybe he noticed something about my eyes was wrong? I mean, it's not like they were always blue, but anyway I'm getting off track. He was wearing a brown leather jacket with a lighter brown shirt underneath. His jeans were a slightly dark blue and his trainers were an even darker blue. Talk about color coordinated. All of his clothes were ripped in random places, with a particularly long one on his right leg but thankfully I couldn't see a wound underneath. The thing that caught my eye the most however, was what made him clearly a Faunus. He was covered in scales, snake scales to be precise (which are different to fish scales) and it actually freaked me out a little at first. I could feel his hand roughly holding onto my shoulder while I carried on munching on my apple. I briefly wondered if I should bring out my trusty wooden spear, but there was no way I could bring it out in time, and I doubted (hoped) that he wanted to beat me up or anything.

"Did you steal that apple?"

"I prefer to think of it as permanent borrowing without permission." Ah, scared and overworked brain, you never fail to spout out nonsense on me, even when I _desperately_ want you to. I was pleasantly surprised however when his face broke out into a wide grin.

"I like the way you think." Still grinning, he reached his hand out towards me in greeting. "The name's Cyan Fulvous, pleasure to meet you." Shrugging, I shook his hand. Clearly he didn't care that I was now a thief, so he couldn't have been too bad. Or maybe that was because he was too bad. Either way, in my hunger I'd already finished the apple so he would have no proof I'd done anything. _That is a worrying train of thought._

"My name's Jack Jameson, member of the high society of the lost universal homeless people. A pleasure to make your acquaintance." Humor, you never fail to let me down with the bitter truth. Now all I needed was an actual society. Still I was glad that, unlike the last guy I told a joke to, he actually seemed to appreciate the joke.

"I'm guessing that was your first time stealing?"

"Not if you include that time I stole your girl." His grin grew even wider at that.

"I never even had a girlfriend."

"That's because I'm that good." This time he actually laughed, which made me laugh along with him. I could already tell that we would become good friends. He calmed down soon, but the grin was still there, so I counted that as a good sign.

"You're homeless aren't you?" Well that came out of nowhere.

I sighed. "Yeah. Yeah, I am now." I guess that still hadn't truly sunk in yet, but I wanted the "sinking in" to take a back seat. I needed to find Jane as soon as I had an actual chance, and I still didn't know how this world worked. I was talking to a snake-person about how I stole his girlfriend (not that I couldn't) and I'd seen people selling dust, the most annoying and boring thing ever where I come from.

Cyan began to look a bit more serious, and he looked like he had become an older man. "So am I. That tends to happen to Faunus from out of town, or even ones who just weren't lucky enough in life. You won't find many humans unless you look real hard. Humans like to get us out of the way." Racism really had a way of following me around wherever I went. I was about to reply but my stomach decided to join in on the conversation by grumbling loudly. I was still starving and one apple was not enough.

"Come on. I know the best places to "permanently borrow" some food." And with that, I made a new friend.

 **A few miles from Vale…**

They searched the building, looking for anything of use and scanning for any unknown radiation. The old couple was held at gun-point in their own living room, trembling in fear at what might happen to them. The leader was standing in front of them, checking her scroll for any updates on her other groups. She couldn't be everywhere at once, but her organization was and leaving it to itself could be disastrous. Two armed men stood behind the old couple, the barrels of their guns a firm reminder not to move. They stood constantly at attention, not moving a muscle. One might have mistaken them for statues, but if you could see beneath their masks you would see just how afraid they were of their leader and what might happen to them and their family if they did anything wrong.

"We found it again!" The voice came from upstairs in the spare bedroom, and the leader quickly walked up to investigate, maintaining an air of fear around her. Once inside the bedroom she turned towards the man who made the discovery. Gulping silently he told what he had found before she punished him for inefficiency.

"The energy is localized to the bed, so we can assume that the unknown dimensional being slept on this bed. What is interesting, however, is that the energy is staying entirely localized to the areas that we can assume were touched from skin contact. There is none in the air and where the body and other clothed areas would be there is nothing. Only areas we can assume were touched by the head and hands have any traces of it."

The leader nodded before dismissing him. She needed to think about this and would not allow any distractions.  
This energy was only being passed through direct skin contact. That meant that the being that came through the portal had been storing all of that energy inside it almost perfectly. What's more, the being must have been human, or at least looked very human, or the old couple wouldn't have refused to describe anything about them.

The woman smiled. This unknown being… it could revolutionize the entire world. Did the energy come from the portal, or the other dimension? Did this other world know how to use it? What had they created, how, and why? What life forms did they have? What was their style to creating things? And, far more importantly… how could all of this benefit her?

And her employer. If her employer ever thought for even a second that she would betray her, then the woman wouldn't last that night.

That was why the woman had to be extremely careful in what she concealed from her employer. F everything went according to plan…

The woman smiled. She walked back downstairs, she gestured to the two guarding the old couple.

Two miles away, a Grimm smelt blood and hurried to the source. It would be feeding on lots of negativity that night.


	8. A new start, if you ignore the old one

I watched from a couple meters away as Cyan lazily strolled past the food vendor, his arms slowly swinging next to him. For I moment I thought he had made a mistake or something, as he hadn't twitched a single muscle in his arm and continued to walk on until he reached the stall next to the food stall, before he cocked his head to the side as though he needed to consider something, before walking back past the food vendor and stopping just in front of me. With a flourish of his hands, he produced an apple in one hand and an orange in the other.

"I forgot to ask what fruit you wanted." I laughed as I took the orange from him, while he bit into the apple.

"You're good. I didn't even see you move your arms." He grinned at me, clearly enjoying the praise while he munched on his snack. I peeled open the orange to enjoy the sweetness inside, and for a moment I was able to forget that I was a homeless kid from another universe who had been attacked by creatures of the night before being racially abused. Almost. I guess good food really can do wonders for the soul.

"So, how come you're homeless?" Why do all good moments have to end?

I briefly considered what I should tell him. Did I tell the truth? That I was from another universe and arrived a few days ago? Nah, he wouldn't believe me, it's hard enough to believe it myself. Do I lie and say I'm from some far away town but lost all my money (or something along those lines)? Nah, he's my first friend and he's helped me out, I don't want to be a dick and lie to him already. Actually, does it matter if he doesn't believe me? Hmm...

"I come from another universe called... actually it doesn't really have a name, but I live on the planet Earth, which is a lot like here but at the same time a lot different. I got hit by a car and fell into a red portal before landing outside a ruined village and walking here, with absolutely no money or evidence I actually exist."

I took a bite out of my orange.

"What about you?"

He stared at me in mild shock and confusion, blinking slowly as if he didn't understand what I told him. I can't exactly blame him for that, it was a bit fantastical. I was actually beginning to get a little uncomfortable with how he stared at me while I continued to munch on my orange, but I relaxed when he started laughing wildly.

"Man, you looked so serious there I almost couldn't tell you were joking!" He continued to laugh at the crazy story I told him for a while, which got us some strange looks from the people nearby, before he slowly calmed down again, still grinning wildly. _He's really easy to amuse, isn't he_? He took another bite out of his apple before looking at me seriously. "Don't want to talk about how it happened, huh?"

"I told you everything there is to tell." He shrugged his shoulders in acceptance.

"Well, what happened to me is no way near as grand as that. I used to be an average kid. Went to school, did the chores, hung out with my friends, got bullied for my looks, all the usual stuff. Then one day I came home and saw my house ransacked. Some thief had come in and taken everything valuable to me, including the lives of my parents."

A dangerous look came over him, and the atmosphere would have been tense (or, well, tenser) if I hadn't been licking my fingers to get rid of all the sticky orange juice. Seriously, it felt like it would never come off!

"So there I was, no home, no money, no family whatsoever and living in an orphanage dominated by humans. You can probably guess what life was like for me in there. So one day, I decided to leave. I didn't really have any possessions to bring with me except some lien that I stole- sorry, _borrowed_ from Miss Loveheart's vault of goods. Now, here I am. Living off of the scraps I take from other"

I had succeeded in winning the small battle of getting rid of that sticky feeling you get from having orange juice on your fingers, but that didn't mean I was annoyed at the treatment this guy got, and I easily recalled when I met Miss Loveheart the day before. _Jeez, how many other Faunus ran away from her when they had the chance?_

"Anyway, that's enough about me. If you don't mind me asking, what's in the bag? Anything worth anything for my little sob-story?"

"Not unless you want to buy football and school clothes from another universe." I said, zipping open the bag to give him a good look inside. My football clothes looked just as dirty and ripped as they had two nights before and my school clothes were as wrinkled as an old granny after the amount of running and general lack of care my bag had gotten.

"Ah well. I guess the multiverse isn't as interesting as I thought it was. Come on. I know a place we can go to get some real food." And on that note, he led me to the commercial side of town.

 **Two hours later**

We walked out of the 1970's American diner (don't ask me why or how it could have been similar to Earth, I guess Earth used to be similar to Remnant in that way) feeling immensely better than I had felt going in. Sure, I only had a couple chicken nuggets and some chips (real food my ass), but it was the best food my stomach had experienced in the last few days.

"Cyan, how can you even afford that stuff?" I asked, turning to him as we walked down the street. "Not that I'm complaining, but last I checked you said you were homeless."

We had received a couple suspicious stares when we were inside, most likely due to a combination of my strange hair, our dirty clothes and our general poor look. To be honest, I actually agreed a little with those people; if we can't afford to look better than this, where did all that money come from? Cyan grinned at me.

"Would you believe me if I said I was the greatest thief in all of Remnant, but gave all the money I made to charity?"

"Not really, no. So how'd you get it?"

"I stole it," He declared, not even a hint of shame or regret in his voice. "From some rich snob who was complaining about the smell homeless people made and how they should just leave his presence. You'd better not report me though. I paid for your food with that money." Well, I can't exactly say I felt bad that guy had lost a couple quid, but was that really what Cyan had to do for a living? Steal? My hopes of getting a job in this place dropped to the red zone.

"Is there really nothing else you can do? Surely there must be some other option. Maybe another orphanage or some kind of job?"

He shook his head sadly. "Miss Loveheart has the only orphanage around here, and no one wants a Faunus like me working for them. I don't exactly win awards at beauty contests."

I walked besides him silently, staring at the ground in front of me as I thought about what that could mean for my future. Did I tolerate working with racists by pointing out I was human? Just because they were racist doesn't mean I would become racist for working for them, but the idea left a bad taste in my mouth. Cyan must have caught the expression on my face because he held my shoulder while giving me a reassuring smile. "Hey, it could be worse. I learnt how to survive pretty quickly. I could teach you a few tricks if you want."

Let it be known that whoever controlled fate is an absolute dick who should go jump off a cliff into a six-foot deep hole. "Yeah, I guess so." I replied, voice light. "It's not like its raining or-"

Boom! Lightning struck as a storm took over the clouds, creating a huge downpour before I could finish my sentence. Already my hair, often remarkably water-proof in its afro style (I say style, you say the results of never being combed in my entire lifetime) felt drenched. I would have put on my jumper, but Jane had taken that with her when she ran off.

"Well at least I still have my dignity."

Let it be known I hadn't realized just how much of a dick fate was.

The words had no sooner left my mouth when a dog ran up behind me and knocked me down, barking loudly at me before licking my face, covering me in dog slobber. It sniffed me up and down before the owner came along, which I would have been grateful for, if I hadn't heard a couple clicks coming from the camera on her phone beforehand.

She was probably around my age, although probably older if her massive bre – I mean size was any indication (the other kind of size!). She wore a small jacket with black cufflinks that ended just above the elbow, underneath which she wore a small yellow shirt that highlighted special... features about her body. She had a pair of fingerless gloves on, above which were what I assumed to be bracelets. _Jeez, those are some large bracelets. Is that a thing girls do, or is that this universe?_

Anyway, she also sported a pair of black shorts and an orange scarf around her neck.

"Sorry about that. Zwei can get pretty excited around strangers."

"Yeah, it's fine. Just, don't make it a regular thing, okay?"

Cyan helped to pull me up, still laughing at everything that happened. I couldn't help but grin too. Life wasn't all bad.

"Come on. Let's get out of this rain before we catch a cold or something. See you around...?"

"Yang. You?"

"The names James."

"I'm Cyan. See ya!"

As she walked off with a barking dog in hand, I looked around for anywhere we could go to escape the oncoming storm before I saw a small building with the words "Tukson's Book Trade". _That'll do nicely. I wonder how a new universe writes its books._

I pointed out the building to Cyan before we ran across the street and ducked inside. Upon our entry I took off my sports bag and laid it on the floor before taking a look around. It would have looked like an ordinary small bookstore, albeit with poor lighting, if it wasn't for the sheer amount of books covering every surface. No, the irony of that isn't lost on me but seriously! There were so many books just, everywhere! It was as if every single book on Earth – sorry, Remnant – was packed inside of this one store and no one had ever bothered to borrow anything.

I quietly roamed among the shelves, looking at the vast selection of books. _Cinderella, the Four Maidens, the man who fell from the clouds, a collection of fairy tales for children, the Tale of Peter Rabbit? Wow. I guess some fairy tales are multiversal. Talk about being a successful author._

I kept looking through before I came to the Non-fiction area. _The Great War? Of all the things this place had to have in common with Earth._ I picked it up and started to leaf through it. _Fought between the four kingdoms that ruled the whole of Remnant, removal of individualism, nicknamed the war for colour, blah blah blah. Guess they were very different to why Earth was fighting._

I continued to skim through the pages before I decided to skip to the end. At the time I had no idea what Cyan was doing; I guess I just assumed he was trying to dry himself off (something I should have done before I picked up a book, considering all the slobber on me) or looking through the books like I was, but the reality was, uh... different.

Yeah, let's go with that.

Anyway, I'm getting off track, so I'd just skipped to the end of the history book and was looking at the aftermath of the war, which had ended 80 years ago, give or take. _Everyone bowed to Vale, King gave mercy (cool dude in my opinion), abolishment of monarchy, etc, people named after colours? Weird but I guess it makes sense, all things considered. Shame it didn't last lo – wait, I now know a guy called Cyan. Forget everything I said._

At the time I had been wondering, does that make me stand out? Surely there must be others out there whose names aren't colour related right? So I thought of everyone whose name I knew.

Cyan Fulvous; _yeah, that's actually really obvious_

Miss Loveheart; _heart and love are red aren't they?_

Jane Selworth; _okay, Jane isn't the name of a colour but it is close to Jade, so maybe, maybe not. What's her surname again? Selworth? So sell makes me think of money, which is green, and so does worth. I can't tell if someone was smart, or just incredibly lucky_ **(A/N – I was incredibly lucky, because I'd forgotten about this rule when I came up with her)**.

The point was my name didn't have anything to do with a colour. I mean, James Jameson? It's not like I could make up my own colour, or just use some other language to pass it off. I was lucky the people here spoke English (or something similar to English minus word usage like "dust" (whatever that was) or "Grimm"), but I doubt that people from the other kingdoms would all speak German or something.

Or maybe everyone spoke English? But I'm getting off track; the point was I would seem super strange if my name didn't share this one thing that every other name had in common.

 _What should I do? If someone finds my name strange, searches it up and finds absolutely nothing, then... wait a second, who cares?_ I looked through the history book again. It wasn't like it was a law or anything; just a tradition – held up by the entire world, sure, but still not something you actually _had_ to do. Besides, it isn't like I'm hiding anything. As long as I avoid mental hospitals, I'm fine telling the truth.

So I put the history book down and looked outside. The rain was dying down and the sun looked like it was trying to get a better look at the Earth over the clouds shoulder. I figured it was time to leave, since it wasn't like I could borrow anything here without a card or any money to get one.

I picked my bag off of the ground and slung it over my shoulder; it was still drenched from the rain, but I would manage. I turned around to see where Cyan was, and what I saw really shouldn't have surprised me, considering what he told me earlier.

He was behind the counter, taking handfuls of money and stuffing as much as he could into his pockets. His pockets must have been huge, because he was taking fistfuls of cash and they just disappeared into his clothing, never to be seen again.

"What are you doing?" He looked up, a shocked look on his face that quickly morphed into a relieved grin.

"Good, it's only you. For a moment I thought I was going to have to make a break for it."

I opened my mouth to protest, but I quickly shut it again. He already told me this is what he does to survive. It's how he paid for the food that was going on a one-way trip through my gut.

I looked at him sadly. He didn't seem the slightest bit sorry for what he was doing, and who was I to argue? He needed food to live. He needed money for food. And if my previous attempts were any indication, there wasn't much chance of him getting money fairly.

Still, a whole bag full was a bit excessive, right?

"At least let me put some back. This is someone's only source of income; I don't want to put them in the same situation as us. Besides, surely we don't need that much? What would we even spend it on, we're homeless."

Cyan stopped, thinking it over in his head. I guess I must have gotten through to him though, because with a sigh he put the stacks of cash he had in his hand on the counter before choosing to add another two stacks to that pile. _Jeez, how can this shopkeeper own so much money with so few customers?_

"Fine. But it's coming out of your half, okay? This is a one-time thing only since you're still naive, but that'll pass. And your stick is by the door if you still want it; it was taking up too much space in the bag."

I thanked him before making my way over to the door to grab my spear (stick? Come on, it deserves way more than that after it killed that boar-thing back in that forest). Cyan passed me on my way back to the counter, giving two stacks of money to me while his own leather jacket was stuffed to the brim in such a manner that it looked like a stuffy jacket instead of a stuffed jacket. His trousers shared this trait, which was probably something Cyan learnt over his years on the streets. While unlikely, I hoped it wasn't a skill I would have to learn, as cool as it seemed.

Anyway, getting back on track, I walked over to the counter and pulled open the cashier to put the money back inside. There were still a good five more stacks of cash inside, which really surprised me. _Why would the guy keep so much money in his shop? Can't he just send it to a bank or something?_

"Oh, customers! Sorry for not greeting you, I was in the back room get- WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

I stared in shock and rising fear at the huge, grizzly man in front of me. He wore a short-sleeved brown and black woollen jumper with a white shirt underneath, along with some long grey trousers and a pair of brown boots. His hair was well trimmed and he had some pretty large sideburns on either side of his face.

These were all things my mind noticed after seeing the angry look on his face and the- wait, were those fangs? – baring themselves at me. I took note of my position – one hand inside his notably emptier cashier, and the other holding a fat wad of money. I quickly glanced at Cyan from the corner of my eye, but his face said it all. _I'm on my own._ I took a breath to explain how this was all some large misunderstanding that could be cleared up in a matter of minutes. He bared claws. I dropped the cash, flung myself at the door while he demolished my previous position, picked up my spear, and ran like the wind on an annoying Monday.


	9. Insert running music

I must have been a strange sight on the streets. Some teenager with weird hair running down the street with a huge stick in hand, getting chased by a guy who would have passed for a grizzly bear if you looked from far enough away.

Tukson's – because there wasn't much doubt it was him – breath was heavy and ragged, his chest heaving with every intake of air, while his claws – and I mean frickin' CLAWS! – would swipe at me when they thought they were near enough. He didn't seem the least perturbed by the torrential rainfall dominating the land, nor did he seem to slip, slide or stumble whenever he had to turn corners.

Cheat.

So there I was, an innocent man technically framed and definitely betrayed by an actual thief, on the run from a man twice my age, with the sting of betrayal taking a back seat behind the rush of adrenaline and the lousy jerk called fear, who never helped you but could be a pretty good motivator when the time called for it. Or he could unleash his freeze gun on you, setting it to –

Getting back on track, there I was when I saw a couple motorway roads ( _where could all those even lead?_ ) rising above each other up ahead. Each had weird blue glowing light walls on the side of the road, which seemed to be enough protection because each was covered in cars galore.

That is a useless fact that wasted your time. Sure, it sets the scene, but it's not like I cared too much, and it isn't what caught my attention. It's simply one of those useless facts authors add in that the first person perspective supposedly saw, took note of and described for people they would never meet, even though when people walk into rooms they simply register the presence of these things and move on.

What wasn't a useless fact for the benefit of others was the horde of people dancing underneath them in what must have been some huge event, judging by the pure sound pumping out of some two-metre high speakers and the four-meter high banners saying "PARTY ON!" They certainly chose a good location, because the motorway kept the place dry which in turn kept the atmosphere high, which all good parties must have.

I guess it wasn't a useless fact after all.

There was a stage beaming disco lights across the crowd and some nameless DJ having a good time onstage judging by the literal sweat dropping off him when he swung himself from side to side in rhythm to the music and while there wasn't a singer, the dancers sure put on a show with their twirling moves. Still, once again, this wasn't what I focused on, making it another useless fact.

 _This is my one chance to get away. Surely he can't catch me in there, right? There would be too many people in the way of me and him._ That was the thought that kept my legs pumping, my heart pumping and my arms moving in synchronisation.

I was actually wrong. Well not wrong per say, but not quite on the right track. If I had been paying attention, then I would have realised that Tukson's laboured breath meant I was running him ragged, quite literally. He wouldn't have lasted for another 10 seconds running after me.

But moving on.

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me in the direction of the avid partygoers, hoping against all hope I could make it before Winnie the Pooh could latch on to me. Jeez, you'd think he would just call the police!

There was a small temporary fence surrounding the throng of teenagers, with a poorly made foam entrance guarded by a threatening bouncer. The rain dripped off his hat, yet he acted as if this in no way bothered him. An irritated frown adorned his face, while his beard morphed into a moustache and sideburns in a way that made you wonder where one ended and the other began. His red shades gave the impression that he was constantly angry, while his black suit promised he'd be ruthlessly efficient in keeping me, or anyone who got too ahead of themselves, outside the barrier.

I jumped over the fence two metres to his left.

Upon noticing this, at least 50 other teens decided this was the faster way to a good time.

This all left Tukson stuck behind the growing mob of people, hands on his knees while he fought for breath. It also turned the intimidating bouncer into someone who reminded me of the poor supply teachers that desperately try to keep those difficult movie children in line.

That is to say, he had lost the illusion of power.

I didn't dare look behind me; for fear that somehow Tukson would land his claws on me when I slowed down. I kept pushing through the people, ignoring the pained cries of those who I shoved out of the way, or stepped on their tails, or invaded their personal space – like that existed in a place like this, with the overhead strobe lights, pulsating beat and crazy dancers.

It took me five minutes, but I finally made it to the other side with my stick still in hand, against all odds. I glanced around me. _No crazy bear man in sight. Good. So, if I can just- hurk!_

If you're wondering what that noise was, it was the mental and physical representation of me receiving an elbow to the ribs as someone ran past, not noticing me in their haste.

"Sorry! Come on Ren, this party needs a Nora!" And so the weird guy in the green shirt was dragged away by the girl with the orange hair as she leapt over the- wait.

 _How does she leap so high while dragging that guy behind her? You know what, forget it. I need to find Cyan and get my stuff back. But how?_

I couldn't just go back to the library. That's where Tukson was going, and besides Cyan wouldn't have stuck around there anyway. So where to go? And more importantly, how to get there?

The answer was pretty obvious. I had to move on.

 _*Sigh*. I guess now would be the best time to search for Jane. But where to start? How to go about it? And what do I do when I find her? What do I do after I've found her?_

Life is confusing sometimes.

"Excuse me? Are you here with anyone?" I turned to see a girl who stood at roughly my height, with raven black hair and hazelnut eyes. Her mouth was set in an assured smirk, while her lime green short-cut dress and matching ocean blue high heels screamed confidence. Did that mean she was actually shorter than me?

Yes. Yes it does.

But anyway, I was kind of wondering why she was talking to me. Despite her clothes and confidence, she was still roughly my age. Why was she talking to me like a child?

"Um... no? Not really. Why do you ask?" This seemed to confirm what she had been thinking, for her smirk was threatening to turn into a smile.

"Good. I assume you're homeless, then?" I was starting to get worried. What did she mean good?

"Yes... I'm sorry, but who are you?"

"That is currently unimportant. _Follow me_." She turned on her heel and strutted off. I meanwhile, stood there confused.

I felt as if I had suddenly received an energy boost, starting in my brain before spreading to the rest of my body. It left me feeling reenergised, as if I hadn't just run away from an angry papa bear through the rain, but my mind was where the really weird stuff was happening.

My thoughts were racing at a mile a minute. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't panicked or scared at the time. My brain simply... sped up. As if I had slowed down time (which is impossible because time doesn't exist) and could analyse and understand everything I saw.

 _What's going on? Why is everything moving so slowly? This is pretty creepy. Okay, think. Everything has a cause and effect. Effect? Time (which doesn't exist) is moving slower. Reason? The most likely possible reason it looks like this would be I am reacting to things faster, which means I am thinking faster. Am I moving faster?_

I tried to lift my hand to my face, only to see that while it moved slightly faster than everything else around me (and my surroundings looked pretty weird too. I could see each raindrop as it fell and elongated, before it crashed into the ground, mixing in with the surrounding water), it was still slower than it should be.

 _It's like I'm in the Matrix. What could have caused this? Was it the portal I fell through? Did it mess with me somehow? Nah, it can't have been that. At least, not directly anyway. It changed my eyes from brown to blue, but that was instantaneous. Was it that girl?_

I thought through the conversation we had as the world slowly crept on. I didn't even notice the small drop in her dress that signified a hidden pocket, nor the slight bulge inside that meant something else. I didn't even react as the girl slowly spun around a few paces ahead, and I didn't care to think of why she, or anyone else at the party, brought an umbrella (another useless fact, since when the rain started these people were probably already outside and wouldn't have wanted to leave the party to get one).

 _So she was acting strange, asking me if I was with someone or if I was homeless. Why would she do that? She seemed happy when I said I was alone... and more so when I said I was homeless. Why? She has something planned for me... something a friend might have stopped, or made harder. And she wanted me homeless. What else was strange?_

I still failed to notice the girl in the green dress slowly walk back to me, a confused expression on her face. I was lost in my own little world, figuring out why I was seeing things this way and what the girl wanted with me.

 _The final thing she said was "Follow me." Then my brain sped up. The connection seems pretty clear. Even her voice sounded strange, as if suddenly another layer was added on top, like adding strawberry sauce to a vanilla ice cream... something that suggested I should agree._

Slowly, the dots aligned in my head as the girl (who I still failed to notice) studied my face, hesitating on the eyes before moving on. Her mouth slowly opened as she began to speak, before I gasped in shock.

"You're trying to kidnap me." The girl raised an eyebrow.

"Come again?" God, it sucks when I'm so much faster than everyone else.

Speaking slowly, as if to an idiot, I said "Why... are... you... trying... to... kidnap... me?"

The girl's eyes widened in shock before quickly resetting to a natural confident gaze.

"What on Remnant could you be talking about? Now I repeat, _follow me_."

"No."

"Sorry, but you're going to have to talk slower. I can't understand a word you're saying."

Jeez, that was getting old fast (eh? Eh?).

"I... said... no. Non. Nein. I... won't... go." Thankfully, the world was slowly returning to its normal speed, though not nearly as fast as I would have liked. I finally took the chance to notice that there was something distinctly... off, about the girl. As if a faint heat was coming off her, like I was a couple meters away from a small fire.

The girl's confident smile turned into an angry snarl within a matter of seconds. "Why isn't it working? You can't disobey me unless... ah." The girl gained a suspicious look as she regarded me in a new light, though why I didn't know. Sure, her voice sounded weird for a second, but what had that meant? Ugh, if my brain wasn't returning to normal speed, I might have had enough time (which doesn't exist) to figure it out.

"You have aura, don't you?" The heck was that supposed to mean?

"You mean that stuff used in anime all the time? You're joking right?" She studied me curiously, as if looking for deceit.

She found none, because it IS true that aura has only been used in anime and never, EVER, in any cartoons, live action film or web-show, except this one show that used "soul-powers," which is what aura is anyway. Chicken Beak is a weird website anyway.

"You... really don't know do you? I suppose I can't be too surprised, not everyone knows despite it being common knowledge. And yet, that would mean you mind is strong anyway... oh you are going to be interesting." I grew worried at the way her smile widened, or the manic gleam her eyes gained. Should I run?

She pulled out a syringe from that hidden compartment I failed to notice earlier. My brain always works faster when under extreme pressure; and what with the thing that just happened...

"Is that guy working with you too?"

"What?" She turned around in confusion, only to hear the splash of my feet hitting the wet tarmac in the other direction.

It's nice to know the many variations of the "look over there" trick. It's surprisingly successful, because it's so blatantly obvious no ever suspects it might _actually_ happen.

I must have been a strange sight on the streets. Some teenager with weird hair running down the street with a huge stick in hand, getting chased by a girl (whose name I still didn't know) in high heels holding a syringe with a crazy smile on her face.

"That's right! Keep running! It will make it the process quicker when I catch you!"

"Leave me the hell alone!*"

 ***Or insert running meme**


End file.
